The Simmons Site

WBCC: this thread is much more interesting when it is off track. If Sonner doesn't work at Deadspin, the vitriol in support of Deadspin is mystifying

 

By the way, is not very ballsy for Craggs to rip on ESPN while ESPN is on the brink of hiring him? Not that Lynn Hoppes didn't 100 percent deserve it, but...

 

I look forward to the new site and what it will bring.

 

Just think if Bill Simmons, Mitch Albom and Mike Lupica had formed a consortium to buy sj. We'd be a parking lot by now.

 

William of Greenwich's readers aren't getting any younger. Someday they'll even be old.

Whatever else you can say about the guy, going from pariah to patron is a stunning thing.

 

Ground Zero.

 

I thought when this was originally announced - and I might be wrong - this was going to be some way to draw in younger readers. I don't think naming your site grantland.com does that. Not that I think it will be the site's downfall, but I don't think it is going to help.

 

I think it's going to be a big success. Seriously.

 

I'm intrigued by the premium (my word, not Simmons') advertising model they're undertaking, only having a few sponsors, etc. It seems like Simmons, who I think of as the Mountain Dew of sportswriting, is trying to make this into a premium brand, and that also interests me.

 

Until Simmons fails miserably at something he's producing, it's foolish to bet against him. I'm guessing a lot of people thought he had bitten off more than he could chew with "30 for 30", and that turned out to be pretty outstanding.

This site will succeed primarily because of Twitter. Every time a new story goes up, the author will Tweet it and his/her loyal followers will click the link and retweet it. Through those retweets, more people will see how good those writers are and follow them on Twitter. Then there's Simmons himself and his 1.3 million Twitter followers who will be all over this. Although the name of the site is pretentious, I can't imagine a scenario where this will fail.

 

How much do names really matter? What is any brand name before it becomes big?

 

When it is a name people need to type in to get to it, I think it has some importance. And grantland.com is not intuitive in any way. Of course, having a marketing machine like ESPN behind it could help alleviate many concerns.